If Dragons May Care
by Lateral Ganon
Summary: Deep in the heart of Altomare, a lonely Latias weeps in the Secret Garden. She is afraid by the fact that everyone else has someone, but she herself has no-one to call a love. Altoshipping AshxLatias and Dewshipping BiancaxLatios . Please R&R.
1. Splashdown

Thanks to Harsune for giving me the name for a group which she should recognize, and Snow Wolf98 (Runescape) for being the basis of their characters. Yes, I do have an actual Fan-Girl, and she even gets a cameo in a later chapter.

Disclaimers: I do not own Pokemon, but I do own the following OCs: Ganon, Laura, Alex, Maria, Moxis, Alicia. I also own this story, and scenes/locations not in the original movie.

_Lateral Ganon_

# # # Chapter Specific Notes # # #

_'Italics bounded in quote marks are a public address system.'_

_Regular Italics are telepathy in Moxis, and thoughts in everyone else. This is generally consistant throughout the story._

Ganon, Laura, and Alex are all seventeen in this story.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Splashdown**

It was sweltering hot that day, even by Altomare's standards. The temperature was topping 28 degrees, but it was perfect weather for the Tour de Altomare which was scheduled to start in ten minutes.

The racers for the event were lined up in the starting grid in the main canal that cut through the centre of the city. Water chariots of every colour carried their racers, bobbing gently in the tide. Each racer had a water type Pokemon at the end of a leash, awaiting the orders to jet forwards and propel their masters, hopefully, to victory. Most of them were waiting patiently, but a few of the more hyperactive ones had trouble staying in the water. A Totodile owned by a trainer with black hair was leaping continuously, thoroughly pumped for the event, whilst elsewhere; a Swampert was splashing aimlessly with her arms, the waves splashing up into the face of a spiky silver haired rider in blue swimshorts. He shielded his eyes from the spray.

"Argh! Laura! Tell Maria to stop splashing me!" The boy groaned at a redhead next to him in a red wetsuit. She tugged at the Swampert's leash.

"Can you stop splashing him?" She asked kindly. The Pokemon looked up at her, before hunkering down in the water again. She smiled at him.

"You should have brought a spare pair of goggles." She told him, snapping down her own ones over her eyes. The boy sniggered.

"I wasn't expecting him eating them." He said, gesturing to the Quagsire he was holding onto. Even now, it was still chewing on the accessory. Laura smirked.

"Then next time train one rather than rent one."

"Oh come on! The only water types I have are Feraligatr and Blastoise, and they're both outside the size limit. Maria only got in by a whisper. Literally."

"He's going to choke." She warned, looking at the Quagsire making retching sounds. The Pokemon coughed up the goggles, and they sank down to the bottom of the canal. Ganon frowned.

"Well one way or another, I knew I wasn't going to get those back."

"Hmm…" Laura hummed absently, "Ganon?"

"Huh?" He answered, trying to stand back up on the rocking craft. Laura blew a lock of hair out of her face, and pointed at the bridge.

"Where's your cousin? I thought he'd have set up by now, but I can't see him."

* * *

"Excuse me… Excuse… Ow! That was my face! Dumbass! Excuse-" A jet black haired boy was trying to pick his way through to the front edge of the bridge opposite the race contenders. Unfortunately, about fifty others had the same idea. He noticed an opening near the front edge, and dashed through just in time, dragging a large case behind him. A girl that was about to push forwards scowled at him loathingly, and walked off. He put a thumb to his nose and waved his fingers at her childishly. He was stood next to a deeply tanned man in an orange shirt, who frowned at him through permanently squinted eyes, a Togepi in his arms.

"You shouldn't push through crowds like that. It's very selfish." Brock said to him. The boy shook his head, and started rifling through his pockets.

"It's not my fault they get in the way. I've got a permit saying I can push to the front because I'm recording the event. You don't mind if I stand here do you?" He finished, pulling out a laminated card from his pocket and holding it up.

Brock frowned at the newcomer, scrutinising the license closely. Alexander Darcy, Trainer, Photographer, and Palaeontologist. Brock cocked an eyebrow.

"A palaeontologist at your age?" He asked the seventeen-year old. Alex rolled his eyes, and put his license away.

"I get that all the time." He said, hauling up his case onto the edge of the bridge, and pulling out a camcorder and tripod. He set them up on the edge of the bridge, and looked through the eyepiece, "What's your name by the way?" Alex asked. Brock offered him a hand. Alex shook it without taking his face from the lens.

"My names Brock. Trainer and aspiring Breeder." He replied. Alex nodded appreciatively.

"A breeder? Nice. Do you travel with anyone? Because I can't really see you carrying a Togepi around all the time. Or the Pikachu for that matter."

"Oh no. I'm with these two kids, the one with the Togepi is a gym leader and the Pikachu belongs to an aspiring Master."

Alex shifted the camera once, and pulled away from it, apparently satisfied with its position.

"Another one. Well I'm sure he'll be following his dream." He whispered. Brock made a motion to the camera.

"May I?" He asked. Alex nodded.

"Just don't move it. It can record thermal as well, so don't break it."

Brock looked down the eyepiece. In it, he could see a magnified version of the contenders waiting for the match to begin. Smack bang in the centre of the frame was Ash and Misty, with Ganon and Laura just behind them towards the right side of the line. Brock looked up at Alex when he saw the last contender on the end of the line.

"Since when have Pokemon taken part in this?" He asked. Alex smirked.

"I can tell you've noticed Moxis."

* * *

A Lucario on the far end chariot sneezed. Ganon looked over at him

"Someone's talking about you, Moxis." He said. The Pokemon growled.

_I'm fed up of gossipers._ He replied, sitting on the edge of the pod and dangling his feet in the water. The Marill that would be pulling him along swam back to him, and he nuzzled her gently. She purred affectionately, and Laura smiled at the couple.

"Just like us." She said. Ganon blushed vividly.

* * *

"Why is a Lucario racing?" Brock asked. Alex put his case on one end, and sat on the end like a makeshift stool.

"My cousin and his girlfriend are training an additional Pokemon. Ganon owns the Lucario, Moxis, which is having agility trained, and Laura owns the Marill, Alicia, which is having her endurance trained. They can't win officially, but the organisers said it's okay as long as they don't block people." Alex looked at his watch, "Finally! It's about to start."

As if on cue, loudspeakers started blaring to the assembled crowds. The first bout of feedback quickly faded out. Alex pressed a button on his camcorder, and it started recording.

'_Testing, Testing…Ladies and gentlemen, it's a beautiful day for Altomare's annual water chariot festival! And it looks like we've got a record turnout. We have-'_

The announcer then started reading out a list of competitors, and their places of origin. Alex nodded along absently, yawning occasionally as he read though the list. Brock looked down at him.

"Why are you yawning so much?" He asked. Alex looked back up at him.

"I've just had a lot of work to get done recently. But the pay's good." He replied, ruffling his fringe with his hand.

'_Katie Brown from Lilycove, Hoenn, with her Vaporeon. Laura Snow from Lutran, Kraith, with her Swampert. Ganon Darcy from Cemusem, Kraith, with a rented Quagsire.'_

Alex cheered at the mention of his cousin, as did a few others nearby. He looked around to see a group of girls waving their novelty foam hands in the air, and he facepalmed.

"Brock. Can I come with you after this? That's the TackleGlomp Brigade, and I don't want to be anywhere near them when they find Ganon."

"Excuse me? TackleGlomp Brigade?"

"Fan-girls. I keep a loaded water-pistol on standby to keep them away." He said. Brock's eyebrows disappeared into his hair.

"But why are they-"

"Ganon's a Master not many people know about. The sponsors don't like him because he doesn't follow their rules, but he still has some fans. Unfortunately, that lot are the most hardcore. They _all_ want to be Laura."

'_Ash Ketchum from Pallet, Kanto, with his Totodile. Misty Waterflower from Cerulean, Kanto, with her Corsola. Ross Gerona, a local, with his Wailmer…'_

Brock cheered for his friends, and Alex joined in so he didn't feel alone. Brock smiled at him.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

'_Are you ready for the main event?'_ The tannoy called out. Pikachu jumped about excitedly, and Alex grabbed a handle to prepare to move his camera.

'_Trainers, when you hear the Xatu, that will be your cue!'_

He focused the camera in on the large green bird, with three smaller birds perched in a column on its head. Each one flicked open its wings as it cawed, from the top Natu, down to the Xatu.

"Nee!"

"Nee!"

"Nee!"

"Xatu!"

The racers surged forwards in a loose gaggle, and Alex spun the camera around back to the competitors. As it spun, the boom smacked Pikachu in the backside, and as he was already teetering on the edge, began to fall down into the path of the racers.

"SHIT!" Alex swore loudly, swiping down to try and catch the Pokemon by its tail, and missing. Pikachu squealed as it plummeted into the path, being swept up by one of the racers dashing past.

* * *

Ash almost lost his balance as something furry and yellow got caught on his face. It crawled to one side, and latched onto his shoulder, and he looked around to see what it was. Pikachu squeaked happily, and Ash smiled back.

"Alright! Hold on!" He said, before urging his Totodile onwards. The hyper-croc sped forwards, pulling him into pole position. Ganon gaped.

"What the hell?" He called out in disbelief. Laura and Maria surged past him into fourth, whilst several other trainers dashed past as well. Even Moxis and Alicia overtook him. He grimaced at the Quagsire.

"Can't you go any faster?" He shouted at the Quagsire. It turned to look at him with lazy eyes, and their gazes met. Ganon's furious red eyes, on the Pokemon's beady bored eyes. He came up with something to make it get moving.

"I've got a Venusaur with Giga-Drain if you don't hurry up." He said to the Pokemon. The Quagsire yelped, and surged forwards with a ridiculous speed, bustling past several other competitors and flinging them into the canal. Ganon smiled ecstatically.

"Now this is more like it!" He said. The Quagsire pulled him around the corner, and within seconds, he was closing in on the leading pack. He could see Laura trying to weave through the three competitors in the lead, but they were all neck-and-neck, and blocked off the entire canal. She looked over her shoulder, and noticed her boyfriend closing in, and she held back slightly.

"I can't get through them." She called across to him, still clinging onto Maria's leash. The Swampert seemed bored with the pace they were going at, and kept trying to pull her forwards away from him. Ganon studied the group ahead carefully, looking at the air above their heads for some reason.

"Can she swim backwards?" He asked her. Laura shook her head.

"Why?"

"If she could have sum backwards up to them, and then jetted out of the water with water gun, you could have gone over the top of them."

"That would have been cool but… left." She turned the corner quickly, and Ganon nearly crashed into her, pulling the Quagsire aside at the last second. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"I need more warning for these." He said. She smirked.

"Any other ideas?" She asked. Ganon tilted his head.

"How deep are the canals?" He asked. Laura rolled her eyes.

"Don't tell me you're actually going to-"

"Okay." He said quickly, hunkering down onto the craft and grabbing the back of it with his free hand. He pulled on the leash for the Quagsire to speed up, until it was literally inches from Ash's Chariot. He braced himself.

"Dive!" He called out, taking a deep breath.

Ash looked quickly over his shoulder to see who had shouted, but was surprised to find no-one there. He almost fell off though as he felt something bumping underneath his chariot, and a second later, a Quagsire and another rider burst out from the canal in front of him, almost toppling him over. Ross stared at the rider.

"Man I've got to try that trick out one day." He said.

* * *

A Latios and Latias were watching the race from above, invisible to anyone looking at them. The Latios scowled as he saw Ganon's stunt underwater.

"He cheated." He said to his sister. The Latias didn't respond, "Sis?"

She looked up at him wearily, before looking back down at the racers.

"Fine. Deal with him." She replied dully. Latios swooped down.

* * *

Ganon cruised through the next canal section in first place, smiling at his little stunt. He'd probably have a sore spot on his head from hitting that other chariot, and keeping a floating object underwater was harder than it looked, but at least he would probably win if nothing unexpected happened. He growled as he saw the rest of the group catch up with him, and spurred the Quagsire on even faster. Latios flew over the front end of Ganon's leash and grabbed it, pulling him forwards. Ganon screamed as his chariot zoomed off down a wrong junction, and he looked back towards the way he should have gone. He could hear Laura shouting something.

"WATCH YOUR TEETH!"

Ganon wondered what she meant, and turned around to see where the Quagsire was going, just in time to…  
CRUNCH  
Get a face full of brick from a low bridge. The Quagsire was yanked backwards as Latios let go, and they both fell into the water, out of the race. He floated there for a few seconds, before noticing another chariot stop next to him. He didn't even need to look up.

"Hi Laura."

"I figured you'd need a lift back to the start." She said, kneeling down on her chariot. He smiled awkwardly.

"You didn't need to forfeit your place in the race for me." He said, treading water in the canal.

"Who said I didn't want to?" She asked him, helping him onto her chariot. The platform wobbled precariously as he stood up. He pulled the Quagsires Pokeball from the belt the race committee had given him, and returned the Pokemon.

"Maybe a good idea not to go for any speed records whilst I'm on." He said. Laura laughed, and manoeuvred the chariot back onto the main path of the course. Latios would have raised an eyebrow if he had any.

* * *

"No way!" Alex yelled as he saw Ganon's crash on the big screen erected for the main event. The TackleGlomp Brigade all oohed behind him, and Alex grimaced.

"Got to hate the groupies." He said, pointing the camera back down the main canal.

* * *

The Latias was watching as the Latios dragged Ganon off the main path, and her face fell as she saw Laura zoom back to help him.

_It's not fair. _She thought to herself. The Latios hovered back up besides her, and noticed her dejected look. He frowned, and they followed the frontrunners.

"Come on. What's up?" He asked. She shook her head bleakly, again not wanting to respond.

"Look. Stop being so down about everything. We came out to see the race so you could cheer up… remember?" He said, putting a claw on her shoulder. She shrugged it off.

"I know, I know…" She said despondently.

"So what's wrong?"

"It just… Loki… you kissed Bianca." She answered. Loki's eyes widened to dinner plate proportions.

"She kissed me!" He answered quickly. The Latias didn't look convinced.

"You kissed her back." She answered irritably. Loki started blushing profusely.

"But… just… it was only a peck on the cheek."

"Oh. So you were trying to attack her?!" She fumed. Loki started babbling too quickly to understand, and she shook her head.

"You're just unbelievable." She said angrily, swooping down among the racers.

* * *

Ash pulled ahead of Misty and Ross, and blocked them up in a narrow canal so they couldn't get past without doing that other boys unlucky trick. He smirked devilishly.

"Come on Totodile! You can win this!" He called. The crocodile quacked at him, and kept pulling enthusiastically. Ross growled in frustration, and pulled back on his leash. The Wailmer pushed forwards into the back of Ash's chariot, jolting it violently. He screamed and tried to counter, but he was too close to the next corner to stay upright and make the turn.

The angry Latias was flying almost next to him, and saw the Wailmer bump into his chariot. She scowled.

_You big meanie._ She thought. She jolted as Ash screamed almost in her ear, and gasped as she saw what was happening. She knew these waters well enough to know that he was about to be in a whole world of pain.

His chariot snagged on a sandbank under the surface, and the chariot pitched forwards, catapulting him off. He could see the hard brick wall rushing up to meet him, and he braced himself for the bone-crushing impact.

* * *

Latias flew up between Ash and the wall, blocking the impact with her own body. He gasped in astonishment as she caught him, and looked around frantically to try and see what he had landed on. Their gazes met briefly, and whilst Ash remained oblivious to her presence, she suddenly felt exhilarated and giddy. Less than a second after he had crashed into her, he fell off her into the water below. She watched the splash, still panting for breath, and Loki dashed in next to her. As usual, he was frowning.

"What did you do that for?" He asked her angrily. She didn't answer; the dizzy look still evident on her face. He waved a claw in front of her face, "Hello?"

She watched as Ash clambered back onto his chariot, and started riding off again.

_Well it was unfair what that Wailmer did… he was trying hard and he wasn't really doing anything wrong…_ She thought to herself as she watched him turn the corner. She flew up above the canals, and started looking for him again. Loki followed, watching her carefully.

"What are you doing?" He asked, noticing her scanning the city below. She continued scanning.

"What we came out to do. Watching the race." She saw Ash at the end of the next street, and the feeling of elation came back. Now for a distraction, "Hey Loki. That guy cheated." She said, pointing to some random other competitor towards the back of the race. Loki growled, and dashed off in that direction, whilst the Latias sped off after Ash.

* * *

Ash was trying to spur on Totodile to even greater speeds, and the hyperactive midget met those demands, surging forwards consistently.

"Pika Pika!" Pikachu shouted out, tapping on Ash's shoulder and pointing ahead of them. Ash raised an eyebrow at the blue dog on a chariot as he caught up with it. He called over as he drew level.

"What kind of Pokemon are you?" He called over, curious. The Lucario huffed.

_Now's not a good time._ He answered, spurring the Marill on faster. The water mouse looked across at the Totodile, and they both glared at each other angrily. The fight was on. The Marill dashed forwards first, before the Totodile tried to overtake. She glared at him, and shot forwards again. Totodile yelped as something suddenly swept him out of the water.

Ash's eyebrow made an attempt for the high-jump world record as the leash tried to yank his arm from his socket. The chariot dashed forwards, throwing Moxis into the canal from the wave. The dog growled loudly after him as the human rounded the corner.

The Latias looked back at Ash hanging onto the end of the leash for dear life, and smiled cheekily. She was clinging to the other end of the leash just above the Totodile's collar, and was pulling him along at incredible speed. The Totodile had already made use of the lift to run on the water rather than swim. He was quacking in absolute delight. She turned the corner, revelling in the sensations coursing through her, almost knocking several other racers into the water. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had so much fun.

* * *

'_And it looks like the leaders are approaching their final turn, and heading for the home stretch. It's no surprise that last years champion, Ross and his Wailmer, are in the lead, but newcomer Misty and her Corsola are not going to make it easy for them. These two are neck and neck folks._'

"Yeah! Go Misty!" Brock shouted out. Alex trained his camera on them and whistled.

"Misty's the girl right?" He asked casually. Brock nodded, and Alex whistled, "Wouldn't want to meet her down a dark alley."

"You probably don't want to say that to her face, or she'll break a lot more than your camera." He warned. Alex blanched, and looked up at Brock, suddenly noticing one of his ears was very red. He left the topic immediately.

The Latias turned out into the home straight, rapidly closing in on the two frontrunners who were the only ones actually left.

'_Wait a minute. It looks like Ash Ketchum and his Totodile were just shot out of a cannon!'_ She heard the announcer blare out. She swelled with pride, and flew straight past the boy that had knocked him off in the first place. Ash laughed behind her.

"What in the world has gotten into you Totodile?" He called. The croc just carried on quacking hysterically.

Loki was scared when he found that the Latias wasn't waiting for him when he got back into the sky. He scanned the rooftops quickly to make sure she simply wasn't hiding, before scanning the rivers. He spotted her almost immediately, and swore under his breath when he saw what she was doing.

"You can't do that!" He yelled down at her. She looked back up for a second, before dashing forwards again, "Lani!"

* * *

Alex was amazed when he saw Ash pelted along the course like he was on fire, but he knew enough about Totodiles that they certainly weren't weightless. His own one weighed an absolute ton despite being so tiny.

"There's no way he can do that." Alex protested as he hit a switch on his camera and looked through the viewfinder again. He pulled back immediately, and stared at the front of Ash's chariot. Nothing there, but… He looked through the eyepiece again, and the large blue V shape still hadn't budged from the end of that leash. He'd never known thermal imaging to play up like that.

* * *

Loki flew down directly above his sister, almost landing on her back, and grabbed her neck. She looked up in alarm, as he pulled her forwards even faster, pulling the Totodile off its feet from the surge.

"What are you doing?!"

"You're cheating!" He shouted down at her, pulling her and a chariot down the next available side canal. Ash screamed behind her, and she feared for her own safety as Loki tried to drag them under another bridge. She struggled against his grip, and managed to drag them both down another canal, but now they were pointing straight for a flight of stairs leading up from the waters edge over a bridge.

_If I don't let go, I'll break his legs._ She thought as they rapidly approached the steps. She released the Totodile's leash and was dragged upwards as Loki was now overcompensating, and the Totodile continued running up the stairs. The crocodile jumped up over a ledge at the top, stopping over the next canal along. They pedalled in thin air whilst anime gravity took its hold, and they plummeted straight down into the canal below. Loki hovered above the scene, tutting, whilst Lani watched the boy swim around under the bridge to where the chariot had crashed into the bottom step. He climbed up and pulled the chariot out of the water, inspecting it for damage, whilst the Totodile jumped up, and sat forlornly on the bottom step.

"Jeez… just a scratch. These things must be really strong." He muttered absently. Totodile quacked sadly, looking at its feet. Ash smiled at the crocodile reassuringly, and stroked the top of its head.

"It's okay Totodile, Everyone makes a wrong turn once in a while."

The Totodile jumped up, trying to hug its trainer with his stubby arms, and laughing like a duck. Ash laughed with him, "Okay! That's enough Totodile!"

Lani didn't notice a smile growing on her face as she watched the young trainer, until Loki coughed loudly at her and it disappeared.

"I saw that look." He said, causing her to blush crimson. She turned and flew off down the canal, stealing a glance back at Ash as she left. Loki sped off after her.

* * *

Alex turned off the camera as the Judges announced that Misty had won the by a whisker. Brock hugged the Togepi in joy, and Alex patted him on the back.

"You've got some awesome friends." He said. Brock nodded.

"Yeah, but Misty was the Leader of Cerulean City Gym, so if anyone's going to win a water Pokemon contest, it's her. We're meeting up at the café at the end of the bridge if you want to come along." He said. Alex nodded. He'd expected Ganon and Laura back at the same place.

"Sure. Meet you there then."

* * *

And that's the first chapter of the re-remake. Now you've spent that long reading it, it won't make any difference taking an extra minute to review.

Yes, I decided that prior to this, I made Lani (Latias) lovesick and slightly depressed.


	2. Runs In The Family

_LG, back from the dead. Okay, I wasn't really dead (duh), I just had a lot of University work, and some... distractions per se. I've mainly chosen to update this one since someone **DARED** to accuse me of abandoning it (Gives a very pointed glare laced with plenty of evil and a side order of malice)._

_Lateral Ganon_

# # # Chapter Specific Notes # # #

_'Italics bounded in quote marks are Loki's telepathy.'_

_Regular Italics are telepathy in Lani and Moxis_

Don't expect too many saints in the story this time._  
_

* * *

**Chapter 2: Runs in the Family  
**

Back in the Secret Garden, Loki was swimming about lazily in a large fountain, whilst Lani was hidden up in a tree, watching various bird and bug Pokemon flitter by through the canopy.

_It's not fair…_ she thought absently, spotting a pair of Pidgey preening each other in a distant tree.

'_You're still depressed?'_ Loki's familiar voice chimed back up. Lani scowled, not particular fond of her brother recently since he was technically the cause of her unhappiness.

_Butt out._

'_Oh come on… you can't hide it… You're still upset that I'm spending more time with Bianca than with you.'_

Lani, glanced upwards, gazing at the clear skies above that seemed to be the polar opposite of the anger within her. Whilst she had been disappointed by his attraction to Bianca, it wasn't for the reasons that would have been expected. What his relationship had revealed to her was her own loneliness. She couldn't honestly say she had any experience of _that kind _of love before, but she had seen several human romance movies with Bianca, although then the thought of finding someone of her own had never even crossed her mind until recently. Hormones, Bianca had called it when she confided in her, and they would soon pass. However, that was months ago, and the longing had only intensified since then.

But then again, she smiled to herself as she remembered maybe an hour or so before, that cute dark-haired stranger she met during the race. Sure, he may not have been classically handsome like those in Bianca's movies, but still… that brief moment of eye contact had been more revealing than he could have anticipated. She could already tell that he was caring and compassionate to his Pokemon just from the Pikachu perched on his shoulder, but that wasn't what had surprised her. In his eyes, she had seen a loneliness and longing for someone. She purred to herself as she imagined that maybe, she was the one he was looking for, even if he had absolutely no clue he was searching.

_Now…_ she thought, being very careful to keep it shielded from her brother, _How to get a chance to go look for him._

_

* * *

_

Alex took a sip from a glass of soda he'd ordered from the riverside café they'd decided to meet at, and pulled up his case onto the glass-topped table. Brock peeked over the steel-lined rim as he opened it, intrigued by the collection of technology. A pair of screens were built into the lid, whilst various objects were foam packed in the lower half. Most of them looked fairly standard, but there was one object that piqued his interest as Alex pulled out some cables.

"What is that?" Brock asked, pointing to something that looked like a black Pokeball with a bulge on the end. Alex looked where he was pointing, and smirked at him.

"Very keen aren't you." He said, gently easing the ball from the foam along with a helical rotor from underneath. A wide lens on the front of the camera twitched into focus, and the whole array looked like a strange kind of beetle as it rested on four spindly legs.

"This is a CamBug. The guys at work gave me this one as a reward for doing a really good job."

"I've never seen a camera like that before." Brock said, looking sceptically at the robot "I don't remember hearing who you worked for."

Alex sighed in exasperation, and made a big fuss over hooking the camcorder he'd recorded the race with into the screens. As the data streamed across, he pulled out a pokeball from his belt, and released a Blaziken. The Pokemon stretched itself, but remained silent. Alex turned around in his chair.

"Sarah, can you make sure that no-one disturbs us?" He asked. The Blaziken smiled, and turned around watching the crowds. She saw a girl in a red wetsuit approaching, and tapped Alex's shoulder. He spun around again, and beamed at the approaching girl the Pokemon was pointing out.

"Hiya Laura." He said, "I've got something I want to show you both… err… where's Ganon?" He asked. A boy behind Laura in grunted in affirmation, rubbing his head vigorously with a very large towel. Alex cringed.

"I thought only siblings could be embarrassing." He said. Ganon pulled the towel off his head, which now looked like he was wearing a silver hedgehog.

"You're not too distant a relative to be exempt." He replied.

Laura sniggered, and pulled up a seat next to Alex. Ganon joined her, and looked over at Brock.

"Hi. Would I be right in assuming you've befriended my cousin?" He asked, earning a scathing look from Alex.

"Excuse me; you make it sound like I'm a wild animal." Alex groaned. Ganon punched his arm playfully.

"You know I'm kidding."

Laura looked over at Brock, inclining her head apologetically.

"I'm sorry, they're like this all the time."

"Oh I'm not too surprised by it. Ash used to start out like that when we'd just started our adventure. Then Misty would try dragging him down to earth and the fights would start." Brock said, scratching the back of his head where, in fact, Misty's hammer had left its mark only a few hours ago when he'd tried flirting literally the second they got off the boat. He glanced over Laura's shoulder, smiling as he spotted Ash wandering lost around the crowd, trying to find the café. Raising his arm, he waved broadly, catching the attention of half the crowd.

"Hey Ash!" Brock shouted over, immediately causing Ganon to dive under the table, and Alex to duck behind his screens, "We're over here."

Ash immediately headed over towards them, pausing a slight distance away as he spotted Ganon cowering under the table.

"Hey Brock, what's he-" Ash was silenced as Laura pressed a finger to her lips, and beckoned him back to the table. As Ash sat down, she pointed subtly at a large gaggle of girls that were looking in their direction. Alex and Brock both tensed up, recognising the TackleGlomp Brigade, only relaxing as they began walking away, although the message was lost on Ash.

"What have they got to do with him hiding under the table?" He asked. Laura rolled her eyes, and tapped Ganon with her foot to tell him he could come back up.

"They're the nutters in his fan-club. All those girls want to replace me as his girlfriend."

"But none of them would even have a chance." The newly emerged Ganon added. Laura blushed, shuffling shyly.

"Oh I don't know…" She said coyly, "What about your precious Wolfie?"

Ganon frowned, glancing around all the rooftops quickly for some reason, before lowering his face to hers.

"Laura… she can get by fine without me, as can I get by without her. But I could not live without you, and that's what makes the difference."

"And I wouldn't want to be anywhere without you either." Laura purred back happily, nuzzling her lover affectionately. Alex mimicked retching.

"Now's the time to look away. They do a lot of this soppy romantic stuff." He said, a bored tone creeping into his voice as he rewound his footage again. Sarah glanced over her shoulder, whining sadly at her trainer. Alex heard the whine, and smiled softly at her.

"Don't worry, I'm not that heartless." He whispered softly to her, "Just for them."

This seemed to lift the Blaziken's spirits, and she growled happily. She turned back around, resuming her role of shooing away unwanted visitors. She glared menacingly at a girl with orange hair staring at her, eyes narrowing as she approached the table she was guarding. Misty frowned at the Pokemon blocking her way, trying to sidestep around it, only to have the Pokemon mirror the attempt to get past. In frustration, she tried to shove past the Blaziken, but if she would learn nothing else that day, it was that you should never annoy a fighting type. Particularly a fighting type considerably bigger than yourself.

Within seconds, Misty found her neck clutched in the talons of the giant bird, her feet dangling nearly a foot above the ground. She tried to scream, but the claw wrapped around her throat was too tight for her to make little more that a gurgle, although this was enough for Brock to hear the commotion.

"Rude girl, you really should say please. Sarah, resentfully that Miltank needs to breath. You can put her down." Alex said, sipping from his coffee nonchalantly. The Blaziken gave Misty a final look over, and slowly put her down, glaring at her constantly in a manner that definitely said '_You push me, I rip you open_'. Sitting down quickly, as far from the Blaziken as allowed, she narrowed her eyes at Alex.  
"Your bird is mental." She muttered darkly. Sarah's cuffs flared warningly, whilst Alex simply had another sip from his coffee.

"She's simply doing her job." He answered matter-of-factly, giving her a pointed glare, "Had you been polite rather than a stuck up little bitch, you wouldn't have been injured."

Ash and Brock gawped at Alex. No-one ever argued with Misty, and certainly never called her a stuck up bitch to her face. The heat from Misty's face could be felt from the adjacent tables as her rage was quickly building, her hand straying towards the handle of her mallet.

"No-one insults me you worm." She hissed at him. Alex snorted into his coffee, smirking in disbelief.

"Misty. The youngest of the Cerulean Water Sisters, and a leader of a gym which offers no challenge. And you're above anyone… How?"

"Shut your face!" She yelled at him, keeping an eye on the Blaziken, which had taken to giving her a new look saying _'go on, hit him. I dare you. See how long you live.'_

"Hey guys, calm down." Ash interjected, holding his hands between them, "We're here on a break right?"

Alex closed his eyes and nodded appreciatively, looking back down at his screens, "I'm fine with that if Miss Ego is finished." But he couldn't resist one final jab at her, "It is Miss right?"

Misty would have answered, but another fierce growl from Sarah silenced her. Instead, she simply nodded. Immediately, she felt her back being soaked through as something threw water at her, splashes over her shoulders landing in her cola. Behind her, the Lucario was on all fours, choosing now to shake the rest of the water out of his fur. Once it stopped, it gave her a slight bow.

_Sorry about that, I didn't expect you to be in range._ He said apologetically, walking over to steal a seat besides Ganon. The Marill bounced up onto Laura's lap, who immediately began grooming it softly. Misty smiled over at Laura, watching her grooming the mouse.

"So you like water Pokemon too?" She asked

"Well I don't specialise in them, but since we arrived in Altomare it's been useful to have types that can carry you over the canals."

* * *

Whilst those two were locked in conversation, Ganon motioned to Moxis to swap places so he could be next to Alex. Giving Alex a quick nudge, he leant closer to the screens.

"You said you saw something." He whispered

Alex nodded, and dimmed the screens marginally, flicking through the video.

"As you expected, nothing visible. But you'll like the thermals." He muttered back. The second screen switched to hues of reds and blues, accentuating the riders and the Pokemon in the final stretch. Setting the scene to loop a 10 second section, Alex folded his arms triumphantly. Above Ash's Totodile, the Latias was clearly pulling it along, and then the Latios flew in to drag it off the course. Ganon's face slowly crept into a grin, and he nodded.

"You found them." He whispered again, fingering two pokeballs on his belt, one red, and one blue. Both empty, but not for long.

"Why is she pulling him along the correct path though?" He asked himself "They pull cheaters off the course and disqualify them… She's cheating, and he needs to come in to drag them off."

"Well she is female." Alex whispered back.

"What are you trying to suggest?"

"Girls have needs… More so amongst Pokemon."

"She's a legendary. She could have any choice she wanted."

"And if she's chosen a human?" Alex muttered quietly, subconsciously taking one of Sarah's hands in his. She purred quietly, but kept her guard as requested. Ganon stroked his chin thoughtfully.

* * *

Lani couldn't believe her luck when she found that Loki's attention had been… diverted… by Bianca coming into the garden, and making the most of it, she'd immediately sneaked out alone through the underwater passageway into the city's canal system. She surfaced in one of the back-alleys, invisible, taking care not to cause too many ripples, although the chances of anyone seeing her were low; she always used this spot to enter the city as a human. Alighting gently on the deserted bridge, she took another look to make sure no-one was looking, before transforming into a mimic of Bianca. Whilst technically she could choose any form, Bianca's was the one she was most familiar with, having grown up alongside her. After a little adjustment of the clothes she'd generated, she crossed the bridge into a more populated street, blending in with the crowds immediately.

It always felt like a game she was playing when she was masquerading as a human amongst them, as though she was playing a vast game of hide and seek. On some of the more boring days in the past, she even wished that someone would actually discover her just for a new opportunity for a game. But that wouldn't do today; she was a girl on a mission.

Unluckily for her, she wasn't the only one. Sitting atop a sign for an ice cream parlour, a CamBug was perched, its lens focussed in her direction. This one wasn't Alex's. Instead, it was broadcasting to a boat docked several miles away at the other side of the city, feeding the screens for two thieves from Team Rocket by the names of Annie and Oakley. Oakley, the more intelligent of the two gave a callous grin as she looked at the screen, watching the solitary blue figure amongst the hoard of yellows.

"Bingo. Well that's one of them. Let's go pay out new friend a visit shall we?"

Annie, who'd taken more interest in her make-up than the work at hand, snapped her compact shut, similarly smirking at the readout. Within seconds, the outboard was propelling them down the canals towards the south of the city. Towards Lani.

* * *

In the middle of the main canal, two Gondolas were being propelled side by side, one carrying Ash, Misty and Brock, and the other carrying Ganon, Laura, Alex, Moxis, Sarah, and Alex's box of gizmos. Understandably, that boat was about 6 inches lower in the water, much to the disdain of the hired gondolier. In Ash's boat, Ross was giving the hoard a guided tour of Altomare. It had to be said, the architecture of the city was amazing, considering it was originally built by refugees from the mainland as essentially a stronghold from the law. They soon paddled close to the museum, when Ross pointed out the symbols on Misty's new Medallion awarded to her by the competition judges. She held it up to the light to watch the light refracting through the glass.

"It's really nice! They sort of look like Pokemon." Misty said delighted. But suddenly she saw something out of the corner of her eye.

"Hey, there they are again, on top of those pillars."

Rather than look at the pillars, Ganon's attention was distracted by a quite urgent elbowing from Alex. The former hissed at the interruption, but listened nonetheless as his cousin tapped at a small screen attached to his wrist.

"Something's interfering with the signals." Alex whispered quietly.

* * *

Slowing to a stop, Oakley swore violently at the computer screen, earning reprimanding looks from some nearby tourists. After sparing them a second to give them a two finger salute, she began typing various commands into the computer. After several failures, she resorted to the age old tradition of slapping it. Annie, having taken the opportunity to take her makeup back out again, gave it barely a glance, but Oakley still took the trouble to inform her.

"Something's interfering with the signals."

Gaining no discernable reply from Annie, she frowned.

"We've lost the Eon."

Annie's lipstick slipped in her fingers, streaking a line across her cheek. She gave Oakley a livid look.

"Hey, you're the brains between us, just fix it." She said, trying to remove the smudge from her cheek with her fingernails. Oakley tossed her a bottle of makeup remover from the cup holder, and she caught it deftly.

* * *

Lani was beginning to slightly regret her choice of timing. With the festival having been so recent, all the tourist spots were full to bursting with couples. If she had a penny for every couple she'd caught kissing, she'd be a very rich Pokemon now. Whilst each kiss made her heart ache from jealousy, they also strengthened her resolve to find him. It never occurred to her that he could very easily reject her.

* * *

_A little too speaky for my tastes, but when people are just sat at a table, there's not much else to add._


End file.
